Currently, vendors of telecommunications equipment design, build, test and maintain automated testing strategies (programs) for testing special service circuits. A special services circuit is a class of circuits other than a circuit for providing Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), and typically uses dedicated equipment and facilities to provide an end to end service to a customer. Also, a special services circuit often requires special (or customized) provisioning and maintenance.
The maintenance (test strategy) of a special services circuit may be very complex and is typically implemented in software that runs on an Operations Support System (OSS), for example, the so-called Switched Access and Remote Testing System (SARTS) available from AT&T Corp. A vendor of a SARTS-like system is usually the entity that develops the requirements of an automated testing strategy that is used to test a particular special services circuit provided by a particular Local Exchange Carrier (LEC). The LEC (i.e., the end customer) usually reviews a test strategy before it is implemented in a SARTS or similar system. However, in spite of the best efforts of a vendor to prepare comprehensive requirements defining a test strategy and customer review thereof, the requirements may still be imprecise. One reason for this is that the problem solved by the test strategy is often complex. As such, it is not until the software program embodying the test strategy is delivered to the customer and made operational, that such imprecision and other shortcomings become evident. At that point, the test strategy and resulting software program has to be redesigned to address identified deficiencies. It may appreciated that the time consumed to effect a redesign of the software program and expense of doing so is clearly undesirable.